# Roger Yasukawa

Roger Yasukawa (born October 10, 1977) is an American-born Japanese former auto racing driver. He was born in Los Angeles, California, but holds Japanese citizenship.
Yasukawa started karting in Southern California, winning the California State Championship in 1991 in Junior Sportsman. He then moved to Italy to compete in JICA. He moved to car racing in 1997 in the Formula Vauxhall Junior Championship in England, before winning the West Coast Skip Barber Formula Dodge 2-Liter Championship in 1998. He moved back to the UK to compete in the inaugural Formula Palmer Audi Championship, before driving several years in the Barber Dodge Pro Series before moving up to the Toyota Atlantic championship in 2002 as a teammate to Ryan Hunter-Reay. He finished 10th in points.
Yasukawa signed to drive for former Formula One driver Aguri Suzuki's new Indy Racing League team in 2003. He was second to future series champion Dan Wheldon in the rookie-of-the-year standings and 12th overall, with 8 top-10 finishes. He ran only two races for Rahal Letterman Racing in 2004 but finished 10th both times. He struggled on a return to a full-time seat in 2005 for the underfunded Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.
Yasukawa has only made occasional IRL appearances since 2006. He drove in the 2006 Indianapolis 500 for Playa Del Racing and finished 16th. He was a late entry for the 2007 event, running in Dreyer and Reinbold's third car, alongside 2004 Indianapolis 500 champion Buddy Rice and Sarah Fisher. In 2008 he contested the Motegi round as well as the 2008 Indianapolis 500, for Beck Motorsports, however he failed to qualify for Indy.
In 2007, Yasukawa drove the #11 SAMAX Motorsport Daytona Prototype at Infineon Raceway, finishing 17th.
Yasukawa currently works in driver management, representing drivers both in the United States and Japan. He was instrumental in bringing Spaniard Alex Palou to IndyCar from Japan and secured a deal between Team Goh and Dale Coyne Racing for Palou to debut in the IndyCar series. Yasukawa was then able to secure Palou a drive with Chip Ganassi Racing the following year, which helped Palou become a title contender and eventual champion of the 2021 IndyCar Series.

## Motorsports Career Results
### American open–wheel racing results

(key)

#### Barber Dodge Pro Series

| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Rank | Points |
| 1999 | SEB 10 | NAZ 11 | LRP 15 | POR 11 | CLE 10 | ROA 11 | DET 6 | MDO 7 | GRA 6 | LS 6 | HMS 6 | WGI 6 | 9th | 81 |
| 2000 | SEB 4 | MIA 25 | NAZ 5 | LRP 11 | DET 5 | CLE 5 | MDO 8 | ROA 4 | VAN 11 | LS 25 | RAT 5 | HMS 8 | 7th | 94 |
| 2001 | SEB 4 | PIR 7 | LRP1 3 | LRP2 10 | DET 2 | CLE 6 | TOR 4 | CHI 8 | MDO 5 | ROA 2 | VAN 1 | LS | 4th | 128 |

#### Atlantic Championship

| Year | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Rank | Points |
| 2002 | Hylton Motorsports | MTY | LBH 7 | MIL 1 | LS 3 | POR 8 | CHI 2 | TOR Ret | CLE 21 | TRR Ret | ROA 10 | MTL | DEN | 10th | 73 |

#### IndyCar Series

| Year | Team | Chassis | No. | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Rank | Points |
| 2003 | Fernandez Racing Super Aguri | Dallara IR-03 | 55 | Honda HI3R V8 | HMS 14 | PHX 17 | MOT 21 | INDY 10 | TXS 9 | PPI 17 | RIR 11 | KAN 7 | NSH 15 | MIS 8 | STL 18 | KTY 12 | NZR 8 | CHI 8 | CAL 7 | TX2 10 | | | 12th | 301 |
| 2004 | Rahal Letterman Racing | G-Force GF09B | 16 | Honda HI4R V8 | HMS | PHX | MOT 11 | INDY 10 | TXS | RIR | KAN | NSH | MIL | MIS | KTY | PPI | NZR | CHI | CAL | TX2 | | | 26th | 39 |
| 2005 | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | Dallara IR-05 | 24 | Honda HI5R V8 | HMS 17 | PHX 18 | STP 11 | MOT 18 | INDY 18 | TXS 15 | RIR 16 | KAN 22 | NSH 11 | MIL 15 | MIS 18 | KTY 17 | PPI 15 | SNM 11 | CHI 15 | WGL 15 | CAL 16 | | 17th | 246 |
| 2006 | Playa Del Racing | Panoz GF09C | 12 | Honda HI6R V8 | HMS | STP | MOT | INDY 16 | WGL | TXS | RIR | KAN | NSH | MIL | MIS | KTY | SNM | CHI | | | | | 28th | 14 |
| 2007 | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | Dallara IR-05 | 24 | Honda HI7R V8 | HMS | STP | MOT | KAN | INDY 21 | MIL | TXS | IOW | RIR | WGL | NSH | MDO | MIS | KTY | SNM | DET | CHI | | 30th | 12 |
| 2008 | CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorsports | Dallara IR-05 | 77 | Honda HI7R V8 | HMS | STP | MOT$^1$ 14 | LBH$^1$ DNP | KAN | INDY DNQ | MIL | TXS | IOW | RIR | WGL | NSH | MDO | EDM | KTY | SNM | DET | CHI | 35th | 16 |
| 2009 | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | Dallara IR-05 | 43 | Honda HI7R V8 | STP | LBH | KAN | INDY | MIL | TXS | IOW | RIR | WGL | TOR | EDM | KTY | MDO | SNM | CHI | MOT 20 | HMS | | 39th | 12 |
| 2010 | Conquest Racing | Dallara IR-05 | 36 | Honda HI7R V8 | SAO | STP | ALA | LBH | KAN | INDY | TXS | IOW | WGL | TOR | EDM | MDO | SNM | CHI | KTY | MOT 20 | HMS | | 40th | 12 |
    $^1$ Run on same day.
| Years | Teams | Races | Poles | Wins | Podiums (Non-win) | Top 10s (Non-podium) | Indianapolis 500 Wins | Championships |
| 8 | 6 | 41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 |

### Indianapolis 500 results

| Year | Chassis | Engine | Start | Finish | Team |
| 2003 | Dallara | Honda | 11th | 10th | Fernández |
| 2004 | G-Force | Honda | 12th | 10th | Rahal Letterman |
| 2005 | Dallara | Honda | 17th | 18th | Dreyer & Reinbold |
| 2006 | Panoz | Honda | 28th | 16th | Playa Del |
| 2007 | Dallara | Honda | 23rd | 21st | Dreyer & Reinbold |
| 2008 | Dallara | Honda | Failed to Qualify | Failed to Qualify | Beck |